Thai Nguyen Province's authorities quarantined 192 Vietnamese citizens returning from China via the land border on December 6.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, made the announcement at a meeting on Thursday in Hanoi.

Dam said the committee agreed that the development of new variants should be monitored closely, but basically, Vietnam will continue to “robustly protect itself from the outside [threats], while strengthening measures on the inside.”

Border forces, especially land border forces, must step up inspections and work with local families with members staying abroad to encourage them to refrain from enabling illegal entry.

The entrants should enter the country legally and follow the strict quarantine policy, heard the meeting.

Members of the committee asked the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, and the Government Office to draft policies on financial support for economically struggling entrants, with local authorities likely to have to pay their quarantine fees.

Regarding inbound flights of repatriated citizens, foreign business executives, experts or diplomats, the committee asked authorities to keep up prevention efforts.

Concerning some cases where people were found to be positive for the virus after they have completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine after many tests, Deputy PM Dam requested a revision of quarantine rules to prevent cross-infection in quarantine facilities.

Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor to the Vietnam Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), said the health sector’s stance is that the incubation period for the disease is typically 14 days so the standard quarantine period of two weeks should be upheld.

The committee also discussed the recent COVID-19 scare where a man in HCM City tested positive in one medical facility only to be confirmed negative in another.

Tran Dac Phu said a mistake might have taken place during the specimen collection step or the testing procedures, or the test kits might not be inaccurate, or that the patient might be positive for another kind of coronavirus that is not the one causing the current pandemic.

However, the results obtained by Pasteur institutes across the country after using two kinds of tests are reliable, Phu said.

At the meeting, Deputy PM Dam said the COVID-19 pandemic globally remains complex, while Vietnam, which has had a good handle on the domestic situation with one of the world's lowest infection and death rate, is preparing for important events in January and February – including Tet (the traditional Lunar New Year) and the upcoming 13th National Party Congress.

He asked all ministries and agencies to strictly follow the Party and State’s instructions on COVID-19 prevention and control.  VNS

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